Author, Podcaster, and Programmer
So, yesterday I started work in a new office. I have my own cubicle, my own whiteboard, even a view out the window! I was introduced to a bunch of new people, and then I had to say goodbye because I had to get to the hospital.
See, yesterday was also the day that I had to get an upper endoscopy. This is a procedure by which they take a camera, and shove it so far down your throat that they can see your intestines.
See this? It’s a picture of a seven-disk collection called “Totally Mad.” It has every single issue of Mad magazine from 1952-1998. That’s over 500 issues, running all through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and most of the nineties. By reading through this, you get a taste of how America dealt with ideas like Vietnam, the sexual revolution, the rise of the Internet, and other cultural milestones.
Years ago, I was at a con, in a panel on intellectual property. At the time, I said, “If anybody out there can make a better ‘Calls For Cthulhu’ than I can, they deserve the right to do it, and I’ll help them if I can.” It was considered a magnanimous and surprising statement, and I stand by it.
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Last year, I created a writing schedule in January that I actually stuck to pretty well. Because of that, I was able to write several books last year and publish two of them.
So I’m going to try it again here. This is my wishful thinking schedule for the year. If I do it right, it will let me publish four new books this year. |
Here we go:
As a computer programmer, I find that I’m fascinated by the evolution of spam comments.
I mean, the first ones were blatant – “BUY MOAR CHEAP WATCHES AND VIAGRA!!!”
After that, spam filters got better, so the commenters started avoiding obvious phrases – “BY MOAR CH3AP W4+(HES AND V1AGR4!!!”
This made the spam filters broaden their blacklists, and made it harder to read. Also, spammers ran into the problem where blog owners would read every comment, and the human filter was just too good to get around.
I just finished editing this section, and I really like how it turned out, so I thought I would share it with you lovely people:
The Prime Minister made a spectacle whenever he moved. Each day Parliament was in session, he was surrounded by analysts, representatives, assistants, and the press. Lackeys and frantic petitioners pushed to gain his attention, and even inside his own office, his workers would vie for attention during that brief opportunity as he walked from one meeting to another.
I just received the final cover art for my new book “Discount Miracles”. Check it out!
This is the story of a salvage ship’s crew who are marooned on a backwards planet. Left in a world where their science is seen as magic, they hire themselves out as wizards who help keep the prophetic promises of the gods.
This cover was made by the Hugo-award-winning artist Cheyenne Wright. Now I just have to get the book edited, podcasted, and out there for the world to see!
What do you think?
I’m a self-publishing author, which means that I take stories from the germ of inspiration all the way to the ebooks of Amazon and the permanence of paper. Over the years, I’ve noticed that there were certain tools that I consistently use to shepherd a story from one point to the other. Write Or Die, Scrivener, TrueCrypt (for protecting works-in-progress), Dropbox (for portability and backup), OpenOffice, Calibre, etc.
I found myself thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if I had a thumb drive with all the tools installed already? When on vacation, I could use whatever system was nearby and plug it in, then continue my writing right where I’d left off.”
This is a link to BoingBoing, one of the best megablogs out there.
Also, this is a pic of my little girl’s Halloween costume, which is freakin’ awesome.
http://boingboing.net/2011/10/31/adorable-minecraft-creeper-and-candy.html#disqus_thread
I know I don’t update this much, but we got some big news that I thought I should share.
First, I finished my novel. This, my fourth book, is about a ship salvage crew from the future who crash-land on a planet that is stuck in the middle ages. They use their futuristic skills to make prophecies come true, at a price. The first pass is about 50k words long, and it’s current title is “Discount Miracles”
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